Business
Number of job hunters rises at fastest rate since Covid
Recruiters have observed the steepest increase in available job candidates in nearly five years, a new report reveals.
The figures have been driven by rising redundancies and fewer employment opportunities.
This surge coincides with starting salary growth easing to its slowest pace in four-and-a-half years.
The monthly KPMG and REC report on jobs indicated a slight improvement in permanent recruitment activity. While still declining, it fell at the slowest rate since May.
The report recorded permanent placements at 44.2 in August, up from 40 in July.
However, any figure below 50 represents decline in the job market, with levels over 50 showing growth. The data therefore indicated another month of contraction.
The downturn in temporary billings also eased, with a reading of 46.8 in August up from 44.6 in July, though also still firmly in contraction.
But it showed the availability of staff increased at a “rapid and accelerated rate” in August, with upturns in permanent and temporary labour supply the most pronounced since November 2020.
“There is certainly potential out there, but with fewer vacancies and more candidates looking for work, the overall picture is still subdued,” REC chief executive Neil Carberry said.
“While we have seen a summer slowdown, we will hopefully see more positive signs when the September data come through next month.
“All eyes are now on the autumn Budget, in hope now that the Chancellor won’t do any further damage to the labour market with costs on hiring.”
The data comes after a survey by the Bank of England signalled last week that UK businesses cut jobs at the fastest pace for almost four years in August amid pressure from higher taxes and labour costs.
The Bank’s regulator survey of company finance chiefs shows UK firms cut employment by 0.5% over the three months to August.
It represents the biggest drop in employment levels since September 2021.
Firms have seen their wage costs soar after the Government hiked National Insurance contributions and the minimum wage in April.
Jon Holt, group chief executive and senior UK partner of KPMG, said that mixed business confidence and worries over the wider UK economic outlook was holding back hiring.
He added: “Given the speculation around upcoming Budget measures, it’s unlikely we’ll see a significant shift in recruitment patterns in the near term as businesses evaluate their investment strategies in response to policy commitments and the rapid pace of change brought by AI and new technologies.”
The KPMG and REC report surveyed around 400 UK recruitment and employment consultancies in the last two weeks of August.
A years-long succession battle within Rupert Murdoch’s conservative media empire has drawn to a close, with his son Lachlan set to control the news group.
The deal, which the family announced on Monday, will ensure the ongoing conservative leaning of Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post even after 94-year-old Rupert’s death.
Under the agreement Lachlan will control a new trust while siblings Prue MacLeod, Elizabeth Murdoch and James Murdoch will cease being beneficiaries of any trust with shares in Fox or News Corp.
It follows years of tension between the media mogul and three of his children over the future of the family-owned newspapers and television networks.
The Murdoch family’s internal turmoil served as inspiration for the hit television drama Succession. The deal announced on Monday to end the real-life saga ends all litigation over the family’s trust.
Lachlan’s more politically moderate oldest siblings are poised to sell their holdings in Fox and News Corp in the coming months. They will also be named as beneficiaries of a new trust, which will receive cash from the sale of about 14.2 million shares of News Corp. and 16.9 million shares of Fox Corp.
The sale of their shares will add to the three siblings’ existing inheritance, but prevent them from having any influence over the political bent of the family’s media conglomerate.
Lachlan is currently the chair of News Corp, which counts The Wall Street Journal and The Times among its slew of publications. He is widely seen as the most politically conservative of Rupert’s oldest children.
“The leadership, vision and management by the company’s chair, Lachlan Murdoch, will continue to be important to guiding the company’s strategy and success,” News Corp said in a statement announcing the deal.
Andy WatsonBBC News, North East and Cumbria, Hendon, Sunderland
BBCA community shop on Wearside which runs a free second-hand school uniform scheme has moved into a larger premises to cope with a rise in demand.
Second Chance CIC in Hendon, Sunderland, collects donations of pre-worn items which are offered to those in need for no charge.
It has moved to a new premises on Toward Road after being “inundated” with parents asking for support.
Director Wendy English said it could give out “200 items a week” because families were unable to afford to buy a new uniform on top of bills and food.
“I had a family in the other week and they were struggling so much that they couldn’t even afford to eat – and they didn’t have their uniform in,” she said.
“They were struggling like mad so we made sure they got everything they needed.”
The group have also received thousands of pounds worth of grants from the Community Lottery Fund and Sunderland City Council, which has allowed it to buy new items of clothing.
Mrs English said: “This bigger store was exactly what we need as we simply couldn’t handle the number of clothes being donated at our previous one.
“But now being able to buy new clothes and not just rely on pre-warn donations is something we’ve not been able to do and it’s been so well received.”
Mrs English said on average 20 families use the service each day.
Julianna Atola went to Second Chance to get a uniform for her four-year-old daughter, who has just started school.
“It’s a big help,” she said. “Their second-use clothes is just as good as new but the difference is it’s no cost.”
Earlier this year, the Department for Education (DfE) announced it would change the law to limit the number of compulsory branded items required by schools to three, plus a branded tie for secondary students, in a bid to cut costs for families.
The government said it believed parents in England would save about £50 per child through its school uniform measures, which it hopes to introduce next September.
However, Mrs English said it was still “not enough”.
“They should just get rid of all branded items,” she said.
“I’m sure it would be a massive help to families.”
Thousands of university staff are to be balloted for strikes in a dispute over pay.
The University and College Union (UCU) said 65,000 of its members working in universities across the UK will vote in the coming weeks on whether to launch a campaign of industrial action.
The union said employers had refused to increase a 1.4% pay offer.
The UCU said it has started preparations for an aggregated UK-wide ballot of its members, covering 138 institutions, which it expects to open on October 20.
It warned of co-ordinated industrial action with other unions representing university staff in the new year.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “University employers are now on notice that we will launch a UK-wide pay ballot with the potential for co-ordinated strike action that will cause maximum disruption on campus.
“Our members, not vice-chancellors, are the people who support students, create teaching materials, conduct world-leading research and keep universities running; we are the university.
“Employers now need to recognise that imposing a 1.4% pay award, when inflation is still soaring, is a significant real-terms pay cut and an insult to hard-working higher education staff.
“It’s time for them to come back to the table with an improved offer that will settle this dispute and avoid the need for a strike ballot and potential industrial action.”
Raj Jethwa, chief executive of the University and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), said: “Our sector and its students will be concerned about yet another trade union-generated ballot for industrial action.
“UCU’s Higher Education Committee (HEC) took this decision over a week ago, informing their members and HE institutions today.
“EIS, GMB, Unite and Unison, will also be proceeding with statutory ballots for industrial action.
“It is palpably clear that the sector’s HE institutions cannot afford to improve the uplift.
“The sector is grappling with reduced income because of a decline in overseas students, increased costs for employer contributions to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme and an increase of over £370 million in employer National Insurance Contributions.
“UCEA has already begun to deliver on the other elements of our extensive final pay offer. This included progress on our proposals for joint work with the unions to further reduce pay gaps, and to promote good practice on contract types and workload.
“Employers take these issues extremely seriously. But they also take seriously the threat of industrial action and will have measures in place to mitigate the impact on students.”
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